NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average is down more 100 points in the opening minutes after dropping 366 on Friday.
Just a few minutes into the session, the Dow is down 103.97 at 13,418.05. The Nasdaq is off 20.47 to 2,704.69. And the Standard & Poor 500 index has fallen 8.99 to 1,491.64.
Friday's losses were linked to worries about the credit and housing markets and disappointing corporate earnings.
Stock markets around the world, responding to the Dow, tumbled Monday.
In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average declined 2.24 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 3.7 percent. In European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.70 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.41 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.83 percent.
On Friday - the 20-year anniversary of the Black Monday crash - some blue chip companies gave disappointing profit outlooks for the rest of the year, and Standard & Poor's downgraded another series of mortgage-backed securities. Investors sold off stocks and bought up safer assets like U.S. Treasury bonds as the prospect of a thaw in the frozen credit markets grew dimmer.
Over the weekend, the world's economic leaders not only said that calming the turbulent global financial markets will require vigilance, but they also warned of inflation risks - which puts central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve in a tight spot. The Fed lowered interest rates on Sept. 18 to make borrowing cheaper, and Wall Street hopes policy makers reduce rates again when they meet next week.
Fed Governor Randall Kroszner at a speech in Washington reaffirmed that the central bank will "act as needed" to calm the financial markets, according to Dow Jones Newswires. He also said problems with structured credit products - which dampened the profits at several banks in the third quarter - are recovering, but gradually.
The Dow finished the week down 4.05 percent; the Standard & Poor's 500 index finished down 3.92 percent; and the Nasdaq composite index ended down 2.87 percent.
On Monday, Lehman Brothers downgraded the mortgage finance sector to negative from neutral, and the specialty finance sector to neutral from positive.
Earnings results were decent, but not enough to cheer investors about the broader market.
Toymaker Hasbro Inc. reported a 62 percent jump in third-quarter profit; drugmaker Merck & Co. also posted a 62 percent increase; rival drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. said third-quarter profit more than doubled; and Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers, said profit rose 24 percent.
In other corporate news, investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. and Chinese bank Citic Securities Co. announced a deal to buy stakes in each other and create a Hong Kong-based joint venture that will offer markets servicing across Asia.
In economic data Monday, the Chicago Federal Reserve's index of national business activity indicated that growth was below average in September for the second consecutive month.
Crude oil futures fell $1.59 to $87.01 a barrel in pre-opening trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The dollar rose against most other major currencies, except the yen. Gold prices plunged.
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